MARKET UPDATE:BSE Sensex 680 points lower at 59,542, and NSE Nifty at 17,730, lower by 195 points

Cement prices and demand are also firm indicating better prospects for the sector, he added.

Meanwhile, among the Sensex-30 pack, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and Ultratech Cement were the only gainers and were up 0.6 per cent, 1 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively. UBL, Hindalco and SBI Life, meanwhile, were the only additional gainers on the Nifty.

Nifty Bank and Nifty IT were down over 1 per cent each, and were the leading losers, among sectors. Sugar stocks, on the other hand, were seen bucking the weak market trend.

Dwarikesh Sugar, Renuka Sugar, Balram chini, Dalmia Bharat, Bajaj Hindusthan were trading between 4-8 per cent higher. This comes as the Centre has issued guidelines for restructuring of loans taken by mills from the Sugar Development Fund (SDF), providing a moratorium for two years and then repayment in five years to eligible defaulting factories.

Individually, the shares of Rama Steel Tubes (RSTL) hit a new high, and were frozen at the 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 412.90 on the BSE on Thursday in an otherwise weak market on improved demand outlook. Since December 20, 2021, in 13 trading days, the stock of iron & steel products company has zoomed 89 per cent from levels of Rs 218.25.